A History of Western Herbalism Part II: The Middle East, the Link between East and West.

Oldest Medical Text 4000BC

Oldest Medical Text

Mesopotamia: The Crossroads of the World

When the people of Asia began trading with Mesopotamia is lost in the mists
of time. As long ago as 4000BC, the area surrounded by the Tigris and Euphrates
was already trading in herbs from Asia. Syrian myths talk of the gods
drinking sesame wine. DNA studies have shown that sesame plant originated
in India.

The oldest recorded herbals are those written on the clay tablets of the Assyrians.
These tablets list many herbs that are we are still familiar with today. Herbs such as:

·
belladonna native to Europe

·
opium poppy native to Turkey

·
Cannabis native to the Mediterranean

cloves that only grow in the Spice Islands of Malaysia

were all familiar to the ancient peoples of the Middle East.

Map of the Spice Islands

These ancient lands of Mesopotamia stood between the ancient cultures of the
Mediterranean and the cultures and herbs of China, India and the countries of
Southeast Asia. What made herbs such an important part of the commerce between
the ancient cultures? They were both portable and profitable. Herbs, like silk,
could survive long trips under harsh conditions because they were light and
wouldn’t spoil.

All routes had to pass through the
Middle East. It didn’t matter whether the
routes were overland caravans or ships traveling across the Indian Ocean. Because of their strategic position, the
Middle East and especially the Arabian Peninsula controlled the trade between
the Far East, Europe and Africa. The demand for the herbs and spices of Asia by
the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean proved to be a source of riches for
the countries of both Asia and the Middle East. They monopolized the trade in
herbs and spices dates to before written history began well continued well into
the 15th and 16th centuries.

Belladona

Cannibas

Opium know throughout ancient world for its gift of pain relief

Time Line

3000BCE

The clay tablets of the Assyrians are the oldest records of the many uses of
herbs. As far back as 3000BCE Assyrian
myths tell of their gods drinking sesame wine.
Genetic studies show that the sesame plant origins are on the
subcontinent of India.

The early people of the Middle East were familiar with herbs from around the
world.

·
belladonna native to Europe

·
opium poppy native to Turkey and

·
Cannabis native to the Mediterranean

·
Cloves that grow only in the Spice Islands of
Malaysia

2600 BC

The builders of the Great Pyramid
of Cheops fed the laborers on herbs from Asia to keep up their strength.

Cloves

Rani Under a Pomegrante

2400BC

Cloves grown only in the Malaysian islands known as the Moluccas or Spice
Islands where already popular in Syria

1790BC

The Code of Hammurabi(1796BC-1750BC (check
correct name& BD) introduced severe penalties for poorly performed
surgery. The physicians of the time
already knew of the great healing powers of the herbs that originated in
Asia. This demand for Asian herbs lead
to the establishment of the trade routes that eventually reached from the Spice
Islands to Europe

1500BC

The Ebers Papyrus lists the herbs that were used in the embalming process of
the pharaohs. This list included cassia,
cinnamon and turmeric, all native to Southeast Asia and Malaysia.

Myrrh

Hatshepsut (1508 BC - 1458 BC) a famous female Pharaoh, sent expeditions
into present day Somalia returning with herbs from not just the horn of Africa
but via the Middle East from Asia as well.

Ramses II

The Pepper plant, its seeds were more valuable than gold

One of her descendants, Rameses(sp?)
II who died in 1213BC was buried with peppercorns inserted in each nostril. Again, peppercorns are native only to the
Spice Islands indicating trade between Asia and the Mediterranean via the
Middle East was already well established.

In time peppercorns were worth their weight in gold. They were used across all cultures in lieu of money.

Ships of the Desert

By Land or Sea All Trade Routes Lead Through the Near East

In the beginning all trade moved overland. The first caravans used donkeys as beasts of
burden but by 1000BC the domestication of the dromedary camel revolutionized
caravan trading. Not only did camels
require less care than donkeys, they could cover more ground faster and with
heavier loads.

These overland routes eventually fell prey to the more efficient trade routes
from the shores of the Arabian Peninsula across the Indian Ocean to the Indian
subcontinent. By timing the sailing of
their ships to the monsoon season of Southeast Asia, the Arab traders could
safely traverse the Indian Ocean. Thus
cutting both time and cost of transporting the herbs of the Spice Islands to
the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea.

From Turkey to Morroco

The Dhowd,the camel of the Indian Ocean.

From Overland to Maritime routes

By 950BC

The Nabataean traders from what was once Phoenicia had firmly established
the overland routes to China, the Indian subcontinent and the Straits of
Molucca

24BC

The trading of herbs and spices switched from a mostly overland route to
maritime one. This is when the Arabian
Peninsula became the center of the trade in herbs and spices and remain in
control of it until the European Age of Discovery. Because of the huge profits being made in the
trading of herbs and spices, Europeans wanted their own cut. In the 15th and 16th
centuries, Europeans began looking for their own routes to the Spice
Islands. It was not until they sailed
around the continent of Afica and crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that
the Arab world lost its monopoly of the river of herbs and spices that flowed
out of Asia.

Strange Tales

Keeping It a Secret for Thousands of Years

To keep other ancient cultures away
from Asia, the peoples of the Middle East inventing fantastic stories about the trials and tribulations of obtaining the herbs that were so highly valued in the ancient Greek
and Roman cultures.

One of the tale tales spread by the peoples of the Middle East is retold by Herodotus, an author of ancient Greece.

"Their manner of collection the
cassia is the following: They cover all their body and their face with the
hides of oxen and other skins, leaving only holes for the eyes, and thus
protected go in search of the cassia, which grows in a lake of know great
depth. All around the shores and in the
lake itself there dwella number of winged animals much resembling bats, which
screech horribly, and very valiant.
These creatures they must keep from their eyes all the while that they
gather the cassia. Still more wonderful
is the mode in which they collect the cinnamon.
Wher the wood grows, and what country produces it, they cannot tell only
some, following probability, relate that it comes from the country where
Bacchus was brought up. Great birds,
they say, bring the sticks which we Greeks, taking the word of the Phoenicins,
call cinnamon, and carry them up in the air to make their nests. These are fastened with a sort of mud to a
sheer face of rock where no foot of man is able to climb. So the Arabians, to get the cinnamon, use the
following artifice. They cut all the
oxen and asses and beasts fo burden that die in their land into large bieces,
which they carry with them to those region, and place near the nests:then they
withdraw to a distance and the old birds, swooping down, seize the pieces of
meat and fly with them up to their nests: which not being able to support the
weight break off and fall to the ground. Whereupon the Arabians return and
collect the cinnamon which is afterwards carried from Arabia into other
countries.

The Culture of Islam photo by Rashid

After Islam

Before the advent of Islam and a
unification of the peoples of the Middle East, the herbs used in the trade were
transported between one merchant to another, slowly from east to west
eventually ending in the trade caravans that took them to the eastern coast of
the Mediterran, across the Sahara and beyond.

With the emergence of Islam in 622CE,
the cultures of the Middle East were united. The solidarity of the Islamic
states of the Middle East cemented the control of the flow of herbs from Asia
firmly in the hands of the Muslims. They held this monopoly for until the Portuguese found an alternate route around the continent of Africa.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Descordes works saved and translated by Muslim scholars

Medical School in Timbuktu

Illustration in Islamic Medical Text

From the Fall of Rome to the End of the Middle Ages

When the western Roman empire fell in 478CE and the rule of Romulus Agustulus came to an end,
the Dark Ages of western civilization began.
During this time much of the written knowledge from both the ancient
Greeks and Romans became lost to western civilization.

As great cultures that surrounded the Mediterranean
waxed, the great cultures of the Middle East blossomed. From the mountains of Turkey to the medical
schools in Timbuktu, the science and the arts flourshed. The scribes of Islam not only produced
treatises on math, science and medicine of their own but preserved the writings of the
ancient Greeks and Romans.

All across their vast
empires, that stretched from Persia across the north of Africa and even into
Spain, culture spread. The trade routes that first brought the herbs of Asia to the Western World, now carried the faith of Islam and the richness of culture and learning, that it encouraged. Without the caravans and dhows of the Middle East much that was great would have been lost.

Many of the herbals and medical writings of the
ancient Greeks and Romans survived in the Arab world to resurface in western
Europe after the Crusades and the beginning of the Renaissance.

Description of Herbs in an Arabic Herbal

Links to Some of My Other Hubs

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Another Chapter

Again, I have just scratched the surface in the fascinations history of herbs. My next article will be on the history of herbs in the Middle Ages. Then on to the Age of Discovery and finally Herbs in Colonial America. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. Thanks for all who stop to read my hubs. Any comments even if it is on how to improve them will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

Comments

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sending

AUTHOR

reddog1027

8 years agofrom Atlanta, GA

Thanks much saif, I am glad you found the hub interesting.

saif113sb

8 years ago

very nice and interesting hub. thanks

Sammieshears2710

9 years ago

Lots of useful and interestinf information.

Varenya

9 years ago

You are right, as far as my researches go, there are so many things to discover...I even doubt if it is possible to come to know all details of this awe-inspiring story of herbs! Many thanks for this hub!

AUTHOR

reddog1027

9 years agofrom Atlanta, GA

I think I will have to write a book. There are so many interesting facts that I have only begun to scratch the surface.

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